Bike trip in Belgium: between Hasselt, Antwerp & Brussels

Looking for inspiration and different possibilities for this second cycling trip, we stumbled upon the website 'La Flandre à vélo'. You can find the 9 cycle routes that pass through iconic points of interest and marked for cycling through Flanders. A good source of inspiration to discover the landscapes of our flat country.

The extra? Their built-in planner on their website that allows you to plan your route and download it directly in gpx

We then revised our route and segmented it into 3 days on the Komoot app. An essential tool that we use for all our hikes and bike rides.

Regarding our equipment, we talked about it more specifically in our article 'Bikepacking to discover Leuven and Malines'. We are considering writing an article dedicated to the preparation and all our equipment for the cycling trip. Tell us in the comments if you would be interested 😉

Flanders is the ideal cycling destination: the infrastructure is excellent, the elevation change is minimal, the locals are helpful, and everyone cycles. Besides vast green spaces, forests, and meadows stretching as far as the eye can see, there are several major cities where it's pleasant to stop for a night and stretch your legs after many kilometers of cycling.

We visited Leuven and Malines during our first cycling trip in Belgium. For this second experience, we will cycle through the Limburg countryside and its famous 'Cycling through the trees' cycle path in Bosland before reaching Antwerp for an evening and a morning.

The excitement is at its peak, our luggage is ready, the camera batteries are full, the bikes are equipped and the tires are inflated to the max, a bit too much even... One of Romain's bike tires explodes during the night (we can tell you it wakes you up). The weekend will therefore begin with an (even more) early wake-up call and a tire disassembly/reassembly workshop. Once Romain's bike is back on its wheels and a good breakfast is consumed, we take the road to the Brussels-North station to catch a train to Hasselt with our bikes.

To take the train with your bike in Belgium, you will need to buy a 4.00€ ticket for your bike in addition to your personal ticket. Even with a ticket, trains are not always equipped with a special bike area, and you might find yourself, like us, between two carriages with your bike for the journey. We hope that SNCB will improve its services for cyclists and remove the supplement for non-foldable bikes.

One hour later by train, we arrived in Hasselt. After a quick stop at a large shop to restock our inner tubes, it's already 11 am when we actually begin our cycling adventure.

Kilometers fly by quickly through the Limburg countryside: cycle paths lead us through fields and villages, sometimes over a bridge, through woods, or along a river or canal. Our midday break goal: to reach 'Cycling through the trees', which is more or less halfway through our daily stage, 55 kilometers from Hasselt.
 

Upon arrival, a crowd of cyclists takes photos in front of this cycle bridge that takes us to the top of the trees. This does not detract from the unusual nature of the place, and we in turn traverse this double circle of almost 700 meters in length that elevates us to 10 meters in height.

Once our picnic is eaten and we have recovered the energy spent (a step not to be neglected on a long bike ride), we continue our journey to reach the stage of the day. We follow for about ten kilometers the canal towards Beverloo and the Bocholt-Herentals canal. The atmosphere is peaceful between the fishermen waiting for their line to pull and the historical bridges where the wheels of our bikes play music on the old wooden planks.

We leave the canal to find the Flemish countryside, its fields and meadows. The last 10 kilometers are difficult for the legs and the mind takes over when the asphalt gives way to gravel paths. We end this day by counting the remaining kilometers to the Camping Houtum in Kasterlee, our accommodation for the night.

For this first night, we were lucky enough to stay in one of the Tiny Houses of Camping Houtum. After a warm welcome at the reception, we take possession of the Tiny Rowan. A lovely little hut made in Estonia located on the tent site.

Outside, we find a pleasant wooden terrace which we enjoyed for dinner and lunch in the sun. To take a shower, brush your teeth or use the toilet, it's at the sanitary block that it happens! Modern and clean, it is located a few meters from the Tiny.

When you enter the tiny house, it's like a cozy little cocoon with all the necessary comfort: a double bed, a small kitchenette with everything you need (glasses, plates, cutlery, and even a basin and a camping kit for washing dishes).

This little hut was the perfect place to recover after this long first day and be ready for the next stage! Since the night was dry, we attached our bikes to the back of the tiny house. In case of rain, don't hesitate to talk to the campsite staff to find a solution to keep your bikes dry.

After a very good night's rest in the Tiny Rowan we go to the local supermarket to eat a good breakfast and prepare our sandwiches for the day. The second stage being shorter than the previous one, we took the time to take a shower and have breakfast on the terrace in the sun before leaving the Camping Houtum at 11am.

Small roads wind between mills and paths through the woods. After about twenty kilometers, we arrive in the city of Lille (yes, we are still in Flanders in Belgium) and its nature reserve: Visbeekvallei.

Visbeekvallei is a large, marshy nature reserve offering a very wide variety of fauna and flora with over thirty species of dragonflies, rare flowers, numerous bird species, etc… But what makes Visbeekvallei a unique place is that it is one of the only nature reserves in Belgium where the viper, currently threatened with extinction, lives.

Charmed by this turquoise water place, we decide to stop at Warandeplas to have a picnic. We go down to the edge of the fine sandy lake where we settle on the bank to enjoy the sun. Despite being a nature reserve, the place is perfectly equipped for dogs and we quickly realize that we have decided to eat in an enclosure reserved for owners who want to let their dogs run free and swim 😊

After a few kilometers of driving through woods, forests and dirt roads, we reach the Albert Canal which we follow for a few kilometers before reaching Antwerp from the west. We enter the city through the Rivierenhof Provincial Domain, where we weave our way between walkers who have come to enjoy this beautiful sunny day.
 

Arriving at the Antwerp city centre, cycle infrastructure gradually disappears and cycling is not enjoyable there, but we finally reach our accommodation located next to the station.

As with all our biketrips, we contacted several accommodations to ensure they had a place where we could keep our bikes safe during our stay.

Our choice fell on the hotel A-Stay Antwerp, a new design hotel with affordable prices, with parking near the station. Upon arrival, the receptionist offered to keep our bikes in our room for even more security.

The A-Stay hotel offers contemporary, simple but effective and very spacious rooms. We will spend a good night there, enough to be in shape for the last day the next day.

Waking up early, we immediately take our bikes to enjoy this morning and discover the city a little more.

After a few minutes in the Antwerp backstreets, we arrive at our first (and not the least) stop of the day: the Bubble waffle café.

This café offers savory, sweet breakfast formulas and even the option to build your own breakfast. Enough to store up enough energy for the rest of the day.

The current stop of the day being quite short, we still have some time ahead of us to visit the city. We head to Eilandje, where the MAS (Museum aan de Stroom) is located, we cycle along the small harbors there before taking the Park Bridge, a cycle bridge with a surprising design. It features an incredible play of light and shadow, the perfect spot for photographers at any time of day.

To get to Brussels, we took the simplest route, a 60km straight line taking us directly to the capital.

The start of the route is the least interesting part of this stage because we leave the city via the main roads, but the Flemish cycling infrastructure lives up to its reputation and allows us to cycle safely. We leave the main road to take a short detour through the Schorre Estate, a large estate where nature, art, and activities for all ages blend together.

Once out of the estate, we rejoin the canal and don't leave it until we reach Brussels. The road is flat and well-maintained, ideal for cycling. We enter Brussels from the north, and in the time it takes to cross the city, we're back at the starting point. So we can say the loop is complete! 😉